Exemplar Read Aloud Texts for Common Core

Reading Aloud to children, even after they know how to read, is such a valuable experience for many reasons! Here are a few:

Reading aloud promotes a positive attitude toward reading and books.

Reading aloud helps to promote a longer attention span.

Reading aloud exposes children to complex language, which will help the children in all areas of their development, especially their reading development.

Reading aloud to children enhances a child's oral vocabulary. A strong oral vocabulary is essential to reading comprehension.

Reading aloud teaches children about the world. It promotes lots of conversations about what is like in different parts of the world, for people who are different from themselves. They learn about the elderly, the rich, the disadvantaged. They travel to faraway lands and they travel through time.

Reading aloud helps children learn how stories are structured. They learn how stories typically begin by introducing the characters and setting, then things develop, a conflict arises, then a solution.

Reading aloud helps children recognize and explore feelings through the characters in the stories read to them. They develop empathy and compassion.

Read alouds encourage thinking.

Read alouds encourage imagination!

Read alouds encourage children to express themselves more clearly and more confidently.

Reading to children is fun for all involved. What could be better than that?

It just so happens that even the Common Core Standards themselves encourage reading aloud to children. In fact, they have a whole list of Exemplar Texts! The authors of the Common Core looked for books and stories with complexity and quality.

These are the Common Core Suggestions for Read Aloud Stories for Grades 2 and 3:

I'm only familiar with a couple of these, but I'm very excited to see some of the new ones. If you click each picture, it links to Amazon for a description of the story.These are the suggested Read Aloud Poetry collections for Grades 2 and 3:

Fireflies

Song of the Jellicles

Your World by Georgia Douglas Johnson

These are the Common Core suggested Read Alouds for Informational Text for Grades 2 and 3:

After looking at all these books on Amazon, I'm aching to buy them all and read them to my kids! They represent a variety of cultures, people, places, and topics that will inspire any child! I can't wait to hear the conversations!For lists of Exemplar Texts for other grades click HERE.

Finally, a freebie. It's impossible for teachers to fill all the need for "read aloud" and do all the other things we need to do. Therefore, I encourage parents to read to the children as well. In fact, whenever a parent asks how they can help their child, my answer is always the same: read to them. Many are surprised to hear that children who can read will still benefit from listening to stories. Here's the message I give parents about reading aloud to their children. Click the image for the freebie!

1 comment:

Hi Sally! Recently started following your blog and getting caught up on previous posts. I LOVE reading aloud to my students, and some of the books listed here are ones I have enjoyed reading aloud. I just think it is really important to note that these books are simply exemplars. I was just reading the latest issue of Reading Today, and it brought up a good point: We don't want to create a canon of children's literature that every child in the country must hear. Teachers should look at the levels of these books and the quality of the content to guide them in choosing other wonderful books, too.That said, if you are going to choose one to read, I'd pick Charlotte's Web-- my all-time favorite book to read aloud!